Namasté!

Welcome to Deezden! My name is Dithi and am a self-taught artist, now living in Geneva (Switzerland). I love to drink 'masala' chai! Indian traditions, women, mythology and folklore inspire my paintings. This blog is about my art, my life and my likes (not so much dislikes).

Feel free to leave me a comment after my posts. For any questions, commission inquiries, purchases through Etsy etc. email me at happydithi@gmail.com

Paint away!

Thursday, 17 April 2008

'Kala Ghoda' or 'the Black Horse' is this enigmatic area in south Mumbai that got its name from a statue that used to stand there. Now 'Kala Ghoda' is a hub of creative ventures, art galleries, good restaurants and quaint cafeterias.

The Kala Ghoda Arts Festival is an annual festival, usually around nine days long, held in late January or early February, in the Kala Ghoda area, South Mumbai, India.

From its inception in 1999, the Festival has grown in stature and popularity, attracting visitors and participants from other parts of the country, and the world.

The Festival is organised by the Kala Ghoda Association (a non-profit organisation that states its objectives as "physically upgrading the Kala Ghoda sub-precinct and making it the Art District of Mumbai").

The sub-festivals feature the visual arts, dance, music, theatre, cinema, literature, lectures, seminars and workshops, heritage walks, special events for children, and a vibrant street festival. Entry to all events is free to all (only restricted by the size of the venues).

The slide show has pics from 2007....and the theme was Tibet. The entire festival had performances with the tibetan opera, yaks on the streets, folk dance n music, Thangka painting sessions by monks. There were numerous quaint stalls selling handmades and one could interact with the artists in their stalls. It was a lovely fun filled week with great performances, art displays, a terrific mélange of creative people and great food!

Tuesday, 15 April 2008

Painting the faces is so much fun!!!!! I am doing these with acrylics and then the text comes later with gel pens or FB pens. .......can't wait to experiment and have purple, mint and turquoise blue faces in my journal. I love the black n white with the contrasting colourful backgrounds. I did text transfer with gesso on the last one.

I read this article in the newspaper about a novelist who went to an underground museum in east London that used to be a prison and then bombshelter way back....and her spooky experiences there. That prompted me to paint the 'purple with fear face'! Hope you like it.

Monday, 14 April 2008

The ''Ink and Wash'' Paintings aka Sumi-e (Japanese name) or Shui-mo hua (Chinese name) are remarkable in terms of brush stroke and detail. Once a stroke is made, it cannot be changed!!!

The painters use calligraphy ink in various concentrations. The ink is either ground by the artist from an ink stick or readymade inks are used.

I found some amazing videos by a Japanese artist named 'kazushimura' on youtube yesterday.I am posting a link to a beautiful koi fish painting by the artist. The videos are at normal speed so you have to be a little patient but you get to see detailing a lot better.

Friday, 4 April 2008

My grandmom or 'Thamma' as we call her, was a very dynamic and vivacious individual. Ahead of her times, oozing talent, she held her own and did what she wanted. I have very fond memories of her sitting on a daybed by a window that overlooked the rose garden, on cold winter afternoons, knitting pulls for almost everyone we knew. Needless to say she had trunks of wool in all possible colours that went with her everywhere. She would read all the newspapers in town, read all the time. Her signature chicken curry was out of the world. Full of 'joie de vivre', she played the piano and the 'esraj', travelled a lot, made everyone laugh, pampered us endlessly. I see her as a young, poised, graceful, beautiful lady who thinks and takes control of her life.

Wednesday, 2 April 2008

I wanted everyone to be able to click on the image icons and get to see larger files with better details. So am uploading the journal pages on FlickR and creating my gallery.http://www.flickr.com/photos/25259949@N03/

Finally sat down to create my blog, my virtual studio. This week will be spent in designing it, editing videos, painting, journalling, re-editing, deciding whether to take part in the tube art contest or not, whether to take up the research job or not, deleting, final editing.

Will also try image transfers in my journal and am looking for interesting vintage images.

Brought home two beautiful tea mugs from covered market at Oxford last week, they inspire me and keep me company when I am in my studio.

Reasearching on Hundertwasser at the moment and can't get enough of it!